KEY POINTS:
Cries of "please don't call the cops - I'm sorry" did not help a man collared by tenants during a brazen attempted burglary of an Auckland property yesterday.
The man, who cannot be identified because his case is before the courts, allegedly broke into the Valley Rd, Mt Eden, flat about 4.30pm yesterday by climbing through an open window.
Tenants say he carried out the opportunistic break-in despite cars parked in the driveway, music blaring and four flatmates hanging out at the back of the house.
But as he moved between bedrooms, a female tenant - who had got up to answer the phone - noticed a shadow and asked a flatmate, Carl, to investigate.
He walked down the hallway and into one bedroom where he said he discovered the man with another flatmate's cellphone.
Carl bravely wrestled the man to the ground and held him there while another flatmate called the police.
"The guy struggled a little bit, but Carl was a lot bigger than him ... He was like 'please don't call the cops, please don't call the cops - I'm sorry'," one of Carl's flatmates said.
The flatmate said three cellphones, around $45 in cash and a ring were found in the man's pockets.
The items came from the bedrooms of two of the flatmates, who are now thinking twice about keeping their windows open at the front of the house - even in broad daylight. "Security is stepping up," said the flatmate.
Meanwhile, a man received minor injuries after being shot outside a nightclub in inner-city Auckland early yesterday morning.
Police were called after the man, who is believed to be in his early 20s, turned up at Auckland City Hospital with the gunshot wounds. Police say they are following strong lines of inquiry and the man has since been released from hospital.
